


Second Earth

by StayFoxy



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alien Planet, F/M, Inspired by Zootopia (2016), Mars, Multi, Outer Space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 10:21:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21318586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StayFoxy/pseuds/StayFoxy
Summary: It is the year 2131. Earth has fallen. The remainder of the ESF and MASA is scattered through out the solar system trying to avoid a terrifying Enemy. The legion has control of earth and seeks to exterminate all of mammal kind. Can a motley crew of survivors take back their world and defeat the legion? Find out.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone I'm back. I'm still working on OSWMA but for the time being i wanted to give a taste of the other story i've been working on. I hope you like it. I think it will turn out to be a good one. I have a lot of plans and ideas for it. This is just a prologue so it is just to test the waters. If everyone hates it I will continue to focus more on OSWMA and either scrap this our but it on the back burner. As always feedback Is greatly appreciated and welcomed. I'm by no means a good writer I just want to share stories to the best of my ability and improve every time I can to bring the best content I can for you. Enjoy!! Foxy Out.

Second Earth  
Ch.1 Prologue 

Year: 2090  
Earth Time: 18:25  
Location: Mars installation 01 Gold Base  
Primary OBJ: Finalize installation of Hubble Mk IV deep space telescope and central com station.  
Weather: Optimal  
Hazard levels: Low  
Commanding Officer: 0-6 Captain Johnathon M. Wilde

“Sir. Can you hear me Sir?” The voice finally broke through the spaced out Fox. “Sir you were staring out the window again.” The voice came from an annoyingly chipper Spider Monkey.  
The Fox let out a sigh before turning towards his crew member.

“Ensign Decker, sorry I was doing it again wasn’t I?” The Monkey nodded in agreement. “Okay Nigel what are you reporting? Good news for once i’m hoping. We are already three weeks behind schedule.”

Nigel ruffled through his stack of papers he had been carrying behind his back. “Let’s see sir. Yes engineering made a breakthrough and the Hubble mk IV is operational. The com tower in Central is also receiving and sending live feed data vids as we speak. We are green sir. The scope staff would like you to come see for yourself sir.”

“Good! Let us go then. Lead the way.” The fox was estactic at the news but of course as always he kept his false calm bravado. Deep down he couldn’t wait until they finished their mission. He could finally go home and retire. Finally spend time with his son. Maybe that’s why they were so behind. He just couldn’t focus like he used to. His boy was growing up and he was missing it. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Johnathon was determined to finish what he started.

He had been brought here to help finish it’s construction. The nerds back at the Mammal Aeronautics and Space Administration, or MASA for short, just had to have a telescope on freaking Mars. This place sucked. So of course the ESF or Earth Space Force had to get involved. MASA didn’t have the muscle for their operation. 

The station was large. Large enough to contain roughly 10 football field size greenhouses, multiple solar generators, numerous water treatment plants, landing pads, and enough lodging for almost up to 5,000 colonists. The bases landing pads and docks were even capable of landing ice frigates. The massive freighters would collect ice from nearby comets, asteroids, or even moons to bring fresh water to the base. The plan was to one day terraform mars, but Johnathon new that would likely take many years and he kind of hoped that would be his son’s generations problem.

“Right this way sir. We are here.” Before the Fox new it he and Nigel had arrived at the observatory. “Commanding Officer on deck!” came a shout from a hefty hippo as the whole room stood up and saluted. 

“At ease.” Johnathon replied. All the other mammals quickly went back to what they were doing. Most were gazing over various astrological instruments and computer screens surrounding the centerpiece of the room. The Hubble IV was massive. The biggest caliber of telescope created by MASA, and from behind the gigantic beast a crowd of hushed whispers, wagging tails, and excited faces congregated. An attractive young female wolf rushed over to where Ensign Decker and Cpt. WIlde stood. 

“Sir! Lieutenant Breanne Chambers reporting.” The younger Wolf was dressed in a regular ESF officer uniform similar to Johnathon’s. Nothing flashy. Just a pair of black military fatigues with a white undershirt and matching black beret with ESF on the front of it. The ranks were on the shoulders in comparison to enlisted ESF. Who wore their rank on their chest.

“Speak Lt. Chambers.” Johnathon replied half attentively.

“Sir the MASA scientists have found something already! Something that can’t possibly be right.. Sir it’s.. It’s unreal..” The Lt. was almost in a mixed state of shock a pure excitement. 

“Well what is it Lt.?” this time Johnathon said it with a little more irritable tone. Sensing his impatience Breanne decided to get to the point.

“Sir, it’s a tenth planet!!!” The Lt. could barely hold in her excitement. The idle mode his brain had been in was immediately switched back into Commander of a Space mission mode. 

Johnathon ran over to the crowd and squeezed his way to the front. “Make way!” the crowd began to split to make room for their CO. “Who’s the operator who found a planet?” the Fox barked.

“Me sir.” Very young cape buffalo in a MASA engineer jumpsuit stepped from the crowd of mammals up to the Cpt.

“Name and position?” Johnathon asked. 

“Sir, Jr. tech engineer Alvin Bogo. Sir.” 

“Alright Bogo show me.” The buffalo nodded and walked over to the telescope. After adjusting the knobs a few times and crunching a few numbers on his computer screen at the base of the Hubble IV the buffalo stood up and motioned for his CO to have a look. “Here sir.” 

Johnathon moved over to the base of the scope and peered into the lens. The planet was massive. Hues of a familiar blue and green plastered the surface with dashes of white filled the atmosphere. This looked like earth. Were they playing a trick on him? Johnathon began to feel the heat rising. “What is the meaning of this? This is just an image of earth.”

“Sir no sir this is not a trick. I thought it was too at first but I looked harder and noticed the land masses didn’t look similar at all. The overall mass is also double that of our planet. On top of that Earth is over that way sir.” 

Now Jonathon was just as confused as the others. “How have we not seen it before?” 

The buffalo looked at the CO as serious as he could and replied, “Sir, we haven’t seen it because it shares Earth’s orbit but it’s in the exact opposite position of our orbit so the two planets hide from each other behind the sun. We would’ve never seen it unless we put a telescope out of our orbit like this one and looked in that direction, sir.”

The stout muscular buffalo didn’t appear to have a normal youth’s immature excitement. Instead he was cold and calculated. Bogo couldn’t have been more than 22 years old but his face was serious and down to business. Johnathon eyed him up and down. Maybe the kid just doesn’t realize what he has just discovered.

“Son you realize what you’ve done right?”

Bogo stiffened upright more. “No Sir?” 

Jonathon grew a smile and laughed. “Kid you just discovered a friggin planet.” That must have been the final touch needed to breakthrough to Bogo. His eyes began to widen and his mouth curved into a smile. All of his co-workers cheered and threw their hats, if they had them, into the air. 

“Everyone this calls for a celebration. Decker organize a party in mess hall 1A later tonight, get the cooks up and busy.” 

Decker saluted “Aye sir!”. 

“Everyone keep up the good work, keep your eyes on that planet for the rest of the day and make sure you report in for later tonight at the mess hall. Carry on.”

With that last order Johnathon left with haste out the door and began his long march to the com Center. Of course he could have radioed someone to tell command back on earth but he wanted to do it himself. He also could have gotten on the small tram that ran between buildings but he enjoyed the exercise. He was now genuinely excited. A whole new planet huh? Johnathon couldn’t wait to tell his son. Now that the links were established he could vid chat him in his quarters later tonight. What would young Nicholas think when he found out his dad’s crew discovered a new planet?

Year: 2094 (Four years later)  
Earth time: 15:35 July 22  
Location: 1567 East Porklane Ave Savanna Central District, City of Zootopia, North Califurnia. Home of Cpt. Wilde  
Weather: Sunshine  
Hazard levels: Medium, Heatwaves keep cool

“So when will you get to be back dad?” Young Nicholas was lazily sprawled across the couch with his head hanging off the seat cushion. 

“Son why are you upside down? Sit up right and tell me how your day was?” The older fox on the small monitor screen said playfully to his kit. 

“Fine but why do you stay up there all the time? I just want you to come home for more than two months..” Nick sighed deeply as he turned himself up right. 

“Nicky, I will be home before thanksgiving. I’ve told you this. There is nothing more that I want than to be with you and your mother again and finally retire. I know I was supposed to 4 years ago but the ESF gave me a very good deal to stay on another 4 years to help supervise the research and contact mission to Second Earth. To be honest with you it should’ve only took about a year to look at the planet and reach out to it but you know how politics are and all the red tape that come with this job makes getting something done a pain.”

“I know I just miss you dad.. Mom and I both want you home. I know it won’t be much longer so I’ll stop asking so much.” The young fox knew how hard his dad’s job could get but he didn’t get mad. He knew that it wasn’t too much longer until he would be back. 

“Nick. I will be there before you know it, and even though I'm not there I’m always with you. Now let’s hear about your day. How’d the project go?” Johnathon asked inquisitively. 

“You won’t believe it dad! I won first place in the science fair! The judges loved my miniature Ion drive engine for my remote control plane. It was a little tricky taking out that old crappy gas engine and making the Ion drive fit just right and it took mom a little while to get her hands on a small amount of hyper matter for fuel. I think they had doubts it would fly. I also had to re-enforce the wings and body with titanium covers to handle the extra power too, ha ha ha you should have seen their faces when it flew and did a small hyper jump from the school football field to the front parking lot. I got it on camera too! Here I’ll send it now. I’m so glad mom is an ESF flight engineer. Thanks to her, and you of course I was able to beat Jack Herum and Candy Ashfell!” Nick finally paused his rambling long enough to catch his breath.

Nick looked back at his screen and saw his dad smiling and looking down, probably watching the vid he just sent. After a min Johnathon looked up. 

“Son you are amazing. You have your mothers genius, and you’ll definitely be a better mammal than I ever was. You are going to go places and help people one day with that brain of yours. I’m proud of you. You might even be the first to miniaturize that technology. I certainly haven’t seen it on that scale before.” Hearing his dad’s words filled Nick with a warm and fuzzy pride that filled his heart with joy. 

“Thanks dad. But enough about me dad how are things on mars?” Now was Nick’s turn to ask how his father’s projects were going.

“Well we sent a radio transmission wave towards the planets surface after we heard multiple static frequencies from the surface. It could just be electromagnetic currents in the planet’s atmosphere. That was 3 months ago. After we sent that wave we also sent a surveillance drone to the surface. It landed rough and kinda got stuck ha ha ha, and after about 4 hours of video feed it suddenly was cut off. That was a 2 months ago. We are still trying to get the Government to send us another drone to try again. Oh and don’t tell all your buddies at school but between me and you son, I think something shut it off.” Johnathon saw his son’s eyes widen with excitement and curiosity. 

“ Wow what if my dad not only discovers the tenth planet but also alien life!?” Nick was in a state of awe. 

“Ha Ha Ha now son please, you know I didn't discover the planet. I’m just in charge of overseeing the missions here.” Johnathon was in a good mood from his sons kind words. He truly missed him. He missed seeing his bright smile and youthful optimism in person. His son was all of his and his wife's best qualities rolled into one mammal.

“Still dad you are the CO on THE Mars Gold base that made the discovery. That already makes you the coolest. All the kids at school are jealous that I have the coolest dad ever.”

“HA well the best dad ever must obviously have the best son ever!” Johnathon replied in a playful voice.

“Hey dad when you get home can we finally build that speeder you promised?” Nick’s change of subject caught Johnathon off guard for just a second. 

“Son of course we can-” BEEB BEEB BEEB BEEB BEEB BEEB RED ALERT INCOMING PROJECTILE BRACE FOR IMPACT THIS IS NOT A DRILL BEEB BEEB. The lights inside the station began to flash red and the automated alert messages blared through the speakers in every room. Johnathon quickly got up from his desk where Nick was watching everything from the vid pad, and grabbed his radio off his bed.

“Decker what the hell is that alert for?” 

“Sir there are multiple projectiles in the atmosphere heading straight for our facility!” Deckers voice was heard from the other side of the radio.  
“What the hell Decker why wasn’t there a notification we had a meteor shower about to hit us sooner!? We could have sent out a couple ships to blow them up hours ago!” This time Nick could hear the anger in his father’s voice, a rare thing for Johnathon WIlde. Nick knew meteor impacts were almost unheard of with the space buoys able to alert them in enough time to scramble a flight crew to go and destroy the threat. Something didn’t feel right to Nick. 

“Sir this came out of nowhere we have been monitoring the sky like hawks. They just poofed into range! What are your orders?”

“Send some Falcons to try and blow some of them up and maybe if we are lucky they won't do too much damage to the station. Johnathan looked down at his son. Nick could see his dad had the same uneasy feeling. Something just wasn’t right. After about 10 mins of Johnathon barking out orders to the rest of the base Decker chimed in again.

“Sir.. we sent 5 falcons out. They all exploded before they left the atmosphere.. An energy beam of some kind obliterated them..” Deckers voice was a little shaky. Johnathon’s face grew paler.

“Decker I don’t think our radio wave went unheard..” Johnathon was now ghost faced. Through the rotating red lights spinning around his father’s chambers Nick could see the look of panic slowly creep across his dad’s face. Johnathon knew what this was. He couldn’t die yet. There was still too much left to do.

“Sir.. are you seeing this?.. Open your sunshades.. My lord what is that..? What have we stirred up..?” Deckers voice carried an air of defeat and hopelessness with it. 

With that Johnathon walked to his cabin’s sun shades and rotated them open. Nick could barely see anything but his father staring out a window at a red rocky landscape. In the air above the station Johnathon could see 3 large unknown ships breaking through the atmosphere. Seconds later green energy beams began to fire from the unknown vessels towards the base. The lazers bombarded the landscape ripping sections of the station to pieces and charring the landscape around the base.

“FIRE BACK!!” Johnathon yelled into his radio. Seconds later familiar red beams shot back towards the advancing fleet. The ground cannons that Johnathon had requested had actually come in handy despite the protests the MASA scientists had made. Out of the three ships in the air the smallest one on the far right began to smoke and descend from the sky at an alarming rate. The ship smashed into the crust and exploded in the biggest fireball Johnathon had ever seen. Not long after the other two ships began targeting the defense cannons. 

Johnathon looked on horrified as his station struggled to fight back. From the largest ship in the middle, smaller ships began to fly out of the sides and land as close as they could to the station. Out of them jonathan could see heavily armored and armed creatures pile out of the ships and begin marching towards the base. 

“Decker are you there? Decker have you sent out an SOS to ESF? Decker?” no response. “DECKER!?” 

“Decker is dead Cpt. Wilde, this is LT. Chambers I’ve already sent out an SOS to ESF they are getting all the live data feed from our cameras as well. Well the ones that haven’t been destroyed. Sir we are leaking O2 badly and half the station is already presumably dead. What do we do?!”

The LT was scared. Hell Johnathon was too. He had no plans for this. “Miss Chambers put me on the intercom.” 

“Yes sir..” 

“This is Cpt Wilde. If you have a god i’d make peace with them now. I’m sorry but there isn’t a way out of this one this time i'm afraid. It’s been an honor serving with you all. Cpt. Wilde out.” 

With that Johnaton threw his radio down and walked over to his desk were he finally heard his son yelling. “DAD DAD! CAN”T YOU HEAR ME?! DAD WHAT”S GOING ON? DAD PLEASE ANSWER.. Please… please be ok ...” Nick was balling at this point. 

His eyes were red and he couldn’t stop shaking. Johnathon himself had teary eyes. However he still had his calm demeanor. “Son it’s ok i’m here. I can hear you. Son I love you.. And your mother. So much don't ever ever forget that. Just remember, even if I'm not there physically I will always be with you. Take care of your momma for me..”  
At this point Johnathon couldn’t hold it back anymore. The tears continued to flow. Nick could see the station shake in the background. He knew what was about to happen. He just couldn’t accept it was real. His heart was breaking.. So was Johnathon’s. He wouldn’t be able to build that speeder with Nick, or see him bring a girl to prom, or see the fine mammal he would become. 

“Dad please... don’t leave me…” Nick begged.

“Son hold your head high don’t let this slow you down. Keep making me proud.” With that Johnathon let out a smile with tears flowing down his face. 

The room soon became colored in a green hue and a second later a bright flash disconnected Nick from his dad for the last time. “Da.. dad.. NOOOOOO!!!!! Nick fell to the floor clutching his sides in pain. The pure shock he just couldn't fully comprehend yet. After about 10 good minutes of painful tears Nick was out cold.


	2. How far we've fallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay now we have rocketed to the present, 37 years from the prologue. (Rocketed, get it... because space :D)   
*Loud booing   
Alright alright I wont do that again. Anyway we find ourselves on the BC C5 Raptor. or the Battlecruiser Class V Raptor. We see a (older) yet familiar face. What is the now Cpt of the raptor doing wandering around in the cosmos. Find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updating and the short chapter. I WILL be getting back into OSWMA I just became really interested in this story and with work and school there is little time to spit out chapters for both stories as much as I would like. Bare with me. I'm not giving up.

Year: 2131 (37 years later)  
Location: Sol system asteroid belt Quadrant F4  
Earth time: 2150  
Primary OBJ: Locate anomaly (reported ghost ship sighting, useful salvage? TBD)  
Weather: N/A  
Hazards: Asteroids and other flying debris  
Commanding Officer: Cpt Alvin Bogo  
Ship: BC class V Raptor

Bogo stared into the void. He was growing weary from the lack of scenery. Every day the same, cold dark space. Same crew, same food, same work shifts, same view, and for the love of all that’s holy the same damn music on the ships comm system. The next time they were allowed to go back to titan for some R&R he was going to personally seek out some different music data drives. But that might be awhile. When ships get sent out for whatever reasons they usually don’t come back for months, or longer. 

The war they had been fighting for over 30 years had finally begun to show signs of slowing down. The SE was too busy trying to snuff out the resistance on Earth to spare their resources hunting down the ESF hiding in space. Instead of fighting the Second Earthers were they needed to, the ESF had their Cpts and ships out in the cosmos searching for various metals and scrap to rebuild their fleets. Bogo sighed. Inside his heart he was conflicted, he knew they needed bigger and better ships, and guns, to take on the SE’s Mechanical hordes. However, it didn’t make him any less ready to lead the charge against the SE to liberate Earth asap. The rebuilding was going smooth. It wouldn’t be too much longer before the Cpt could strike back, and get some much needed revenge.

“Bogo to Navigation any signs at all of our supposed target?” bogo asked his into intercom mic.

“Sir we have a ping. But we do not have a visual yet. It’s a rather large blip on the radar sir, not like a normal cargo ship or passenger cruiser. Are you on the command deck now sir?” A smaller voice asked back.

“Of course I'm on the command deck, I can’t see that well from my quarters Skye.” Bogo face hoofed and sighed. A small surprised "Eeep" slipped through the comm speaker. “Engineer Skye why are you in the the navigation wing again?” Bogo knew Skye was one of the best and brightest upcoming engineers the ESF had. Bogo however had a hard time keeping the energized 18 year old arctic fox to sit still. She was still so young and perky, and had a knack for wanting to learn everyone else’s job and just wanted to be involved everywhere. At 63 Bogo just couldn’t keep up with the kid, and Chief Engineer Fangmeyer wasn't much help keeping her in line either. However he knew she didn’t mean any harm.

“Ahh how’d ya know it was me?” came her defeated reply.

“Skye your voice is forever branded on my brain. I've known you since you were a wee Kit. I could recognize you even if you had a voice distorter.” Bogo already knew the answer to his next question but decided to ask it anyway. “Skye have you-”.

“Finished maintenance on every last Falcon fighter? Yes twice actually. Have I checked for any fluid leaks or damage to the Vulture transports? Yes and yes. Have I performed PMCS on the Titan tanks we never get to use and the Specter assault trucks? Yes and yes. Plus I've already checked the engine room and the lower bays twice for anything broken. I’ve fixed everything and i’m bored. Please let me hang out with Nav so I can see this ghooosssst ship! Ha ha ha.” The last line was said with the same amount of energy that a young kit would say when wanting to open up just one present on christmas eve.

Bogo was quite annoyed at being cut off mid sentence, but because it was skye he couldn't help but not say ok. “Fine Skye. I was thinking of sending you with the Commander and her team to investigate the wreckage anyway, if we find it.” 

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!” Bogo had to jerk away from the comm speaker or risk going deaf. Skye never got to do anything like that. For starters, he found her to be too you and naive. But he thought to himself, maybe a little field time could do her some good.

“Thank you thank you thank you sir!!!!” Skye was obviously beyond happy. “I’m going to find it right away, don’t worry sir!”.

“That’s what I’m worried about.” Bogo muttered under his breath.

The Raptor wasn’t the biggest BC of its class. Roughly 1600 meters, or a mile long. It was just small enough to weave in and out of the asteroid belt without much worry. Of course the occasional rock would smack into the hull but that’s what energy shields were for. The ship wasn’t the fastest or best defensively but what it lacked in speed and defense it made up for in firepower. The raptor sported 16 anti aircraft Ion cannons, for small fighters, 20 missile launchers, 8 Ion particle heavy cannons, and 4 experimental Quad energized rail guns and 2 heavy orbital assault mac cannons with hundreds of various rounds for each weapon systems.

Bogo sat in his chair. For a good twenty minutes or so all he did was stare forward. He would often space out, most of the time being haunted by the faces of those he had lost under his command or the ones he failed to help from the SE's savage attacks throughout the many years of this war. Any other mammal would have gone crazy by now. Or maybe he was crazy? 

“Sir, I think we found it. The ping is very strong to our port side, can you look and see if you have a hard visual?” The comm reported in, this time not Skye.

Broken from his daze, Bogo raised himself from his chair, walked past various mammals at their posts and, and stared out into the asteroid belt. “Hmmm.” Bogo couldn’t see anything at first besides rocks until Skye’s youthful voice let out a thunderous “I SEE IT!” right beside Bogo. The captain didn’t even hear her approach or notice her standing next to him. “I swear Skye! How long have you been there?!” The startled Bogo asked.

“Umm five minutes? I don’t remember. Look Sir! I thought you would have a hard time seeing it so I came up here to point it out!” She either couldn’t tell how much she startled him or didn’t care. He would deal with her later. First, find out what they were looking at.

Bogo reached for his binoculars on his belt instinctively, only to find that they weren’t in their normal spot. “What the..?” 

“The Nesar? The Nesat? The Nerat? I can’t make it out the paint is really faded ohh but there’s a little shiny blinking light at the top of the ship. Does it still have power? No way it looks antique.” Bogo looked down to see Skye using his binoculars.

“What? Give me those Skye! Come on now.” Bogo snatched them back up causing Skye to flinch a little. “I’m sorry skye next time please don’t just take.” Bogo lifted them up and began to look for the ship’s name.

“Sorry sir I was just trying to help. By the way, why do you still use those old things? The ship has a periscope thingy on it. I think? I haven’t been up here much. Hey Mr. Wolford do we have a periscope or something like that?” Skye asked a tall white canine who had been silently standing off to the side of Bogo staring out into the void. He looked like he had seen a ghost. The usually cheerful canine Lt. was now unusually quiet. 

“Uh yeah kid, but the Cpt sometimes like to do things the old fashioned way....” Was all Wolford would say without taking his eyes off the ship. Skye looked up at him and then back to Bogo. Now he too had the same pale just saw a ghost face. She looked around the room and many, not all, especially the older crew members, had gotten up off their posts and made their way to the port side observation window. Some had tears some looked scared. What is up with them? What is so scary about a ghost ship? It’s not that uncommon Skye thought to herself.

“Skye bring me the comm mic on my desk now.” Bogo said emotionless and with his eyes still drilled on the ship. Still not understanding Skye quickly grabbed the Mic and gave it to Bogo.

“Commander Hopps, come in It’s Bogo I need you up here.”

“What is it Sir?” A calm, mature, and maybe even a little icy voice replied.

“That ghost ship, we found it.” He replied.

“Ok and why do you need me up there? I’ll get my team ready to board and salvage. Get Wolford to bring down another hacker pad and boost box in case we run into sealed doors. I’m sure the power is gone.”

“No Hopps, you don’t understand.” Bogo replied. “It’s the Nexstar.”

A lengthy silence came from the other end of the comm. 

“I’m on my way.” Was all that came through the speakers.


	3. The Nexstar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye finally gets to do a big mission. What will she find on the mysterious ghost ship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays everyone! Hope everyone has a good weekend. Want to say this chapter wouldn't be nearly as clean without the help of Usernamesweretaken. Seriously appreciate the editor/beta reader insight you have provided. I still have a lot of work to do to provide the best content I can. Stay tuned!

Year: 2131  
Time: 0:400  
Location: Sol system asteroid belt quadrant F4  
Primary OBJ: Investigate the Nexstar Weather: N/A  
Hazards: Asteroids and other debris  
Commanding Officer: Cpt. Alvin Bogo  
Ship: BC class V Raptor

“So what’s up with this ship? Why is everyone so spooked?” Skye had too many questions that weren’t being answered, and being the impatient fox she was, she was beginning to get annoyed. “Helloooooo? Anybody?” she asked again. Johnny Wolford and Chase Beowulf, whom Skye had been ordered to go with, remained silent throughout their walk down to the cargo bay. After what felt like an eternity of walking down identical metal grey hallways and a quick trip down the main elevator, they finally arrived at the ground teams hold up inside the Raptor.

An entire cargo bay near the rear of the ship had been converted into Commander Hopp’s personal base of operations. Skye had only seen the Commander once or twice, as she typically stayed to herself and her team, many of whom were also reclusive. Echo Squad was the special forces unit of the BC Raptor, every major battleship and cruiser of the ESF had an SF squad amongst their ranks, and Commander Hopps was the leader of this one. Usually, the squads were comprised of roughly twelve members, most of whom but not all, were graduates of the Maverick program. Even Skye knew that the Mavericks were the elite of the elite.

From the rumors she heard, the training took many years and each candidate was injected with what the science nerds called the M1SS serum. It wasn’t like the vids she had watched about fantasy super-soldiers who were 8ft and could lift a tank, but the serum did enhance reflexes and speed up recovery time for most injuries. Combined with the program’s rigorous, top secret training, it was plenty to give a huge advantage over the average soldier in the ESF.

When Skye saw the commander, she was standing at the end of the cargo bay looking at a data pad containing what looked like a picture of the ghost ship they were about to board. The doe looked calm and collected, but when her eyes shifted in Skye’s direction there seemed to be something else there. The vixen straightened up as the commander began marching in her direction, all seriousness returning to her face.

“Skye. I’ve been informed you will be joining us on this mission. Bogo wants me to give you field experience. Very well, but you will be following my orders and not doing whatever Skye wants. Am I clear?” the bunny said sternly.

“Aye ma’am!”

The rabbit hopped onto a cargo box and cleared her throat. “Echo on me.” All of the other mammals stopped what they were doing to listen to their commander.

“Most of us know this ship, and it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen it. I know some of you want answers but please don’t get your hopes up. That was 15 years ago, and there is no way that ship has life. Most of us I'm sure, didn’t want to see this ship again so don’t let the past cloud your head. Now that we have gone over that let's get back to business, this is still a routine salvage OP. I’ve been instructed to split our team. Echo 1, Wolford, Beowulf, Skye, Sly, Stafford, and myself will head to the bridge and recover the flight recorder. Per the captain..” The last line was said with a hint of bitterness. 

“Echo 2, Johnson, Jackson, Delgato, Riley, Higgins, and Kodi. Delgato is team leader. Del, your squad will head to the engine core and see how badly they are fried. I want to know if the ship is scrap or rebuildable. I’d personally love to let it sleep but the ESF does need all the help it can get. Any questions? No? Good. We roll out in 5.” With that, the bunny commander hopped off of her box and proceeded to get suited up.

Now Skye was even more confused. She wanted to know why this ship was well known to everyone but her. “Umm excuse me, Wolford? Can you please tell me about that ship?” Skye asked with puppy dog eyes.

“Look, kid. All you need to know is that this boat has been missing for 15 years, and it has haunted a lot of us with questions for that long. The loss of that ship was really hard on the commander. She used to be… a more cheerful mammal. Sometimes old wounds aren’t meant to reopen.” He paused to think. “Now enough about that, do you have your own ESF battle suit? Or do you need to borrow one?” The older canine asked with kind eyes.

“Yes I do, I’ve never got to use it before but I've been waiting for the chance.” she squealed with glee.

“Alright alright hurry up and get dressed. The commander is already on the Vulture.” Wolford put on his combat helmet and sealed it to his suit. After doing a pressure check for leaks he leaned against a cargo box waiting for her. After realizing she was about to be the last one ready she hurriedly threw her suit on and did the same pressure checks she had been trained to do. The sleek metal suit was surprisingly light and fit right over her overalls. Each suit was custom fit to each species, of course, but they were all made of the same lightweight super metal. Being all the same shade of gray, most mammals painted their own personal additions to their suits.

For example, Wolford had what looked like blue claw marks across his visor and helmet along with a single blue stripe down the right side of his armor. Stafford had red devil horns on his helmet along with two red stripes down each side of his arms, and Beowulf had multiple green tribal swirls along his arms, chestplate, and helmet. Even the commander had a deep purple stripe down the right side of her breastplate, up her right side of her helmet and back down her right thigh.

Skye was in the plain gray suit and knew exactly what her next project was going to be whenever she got back from this mission. She quickly joined Wolford, who walked with her to the Vulture. “Ziggy roll out!” The commander smacked the door to the cockpit.

Ziggy, whom Skye had met once, was Echo’s personal pilot. The doe had wanted to be a Maverick but was told the serum wasn’t compatible with her. When that didn’t work she tried for the SF, she was told she was too small. So when that didn’t work she tried to be a cargo pilot. She aced her entrance exam so well they assigned her to fighter pilot school. After she graduated with the highest honors and most simulation wins and kills she was hand picked by the Commander to be her pilot. Ziggy hasn’t been happier since she found her purpose. At least that was what she told Skye.

Soon, the Vulture had taken off and exited the mag shielded hangar of the Raptor and they were on their way to the Nexstar. Through it all, nobody said a word. Side glances and ominous energy was all that was shared.

The mag shields on the hangar doors were long dead. The ship had multiple scorch marks and holes in the armor all over the hull. None of the major systems looked to be missing such as the comm arrays, the bridge, and even the life support. The engines were also still there; unfortunately, all four of them looked completely burned out. Ziggy landed in the nearest bay to the bridge. The Raptor was slightly smaller in size compared to the Nexstar but noticeably more advanced in technology. This older tech may not have been as fancy, but it was much simpler to work on and very reliable.

“You’ve got your assignments, move!” The commander called as soon as the Vulture’s side doors opened. Skye felt very light and noticed the ground was getting further away from her. “EEEP!” she let out a startled yelp.

“Mag boots, kid. I gotcha.” Wolford laughed as he grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. She quickly reached towards her ankles and activated the boot to keep herself secure to the ground.

“Amature.” The commander said as she and the rest of Echo 1 jumping unto the cargo bay floor. The rest of Echo 2 was already turning out of sight on their way to the engines.

Skye looked down shyly, ashamed of her simple mistake. “Come on kid, let's go. Don’t let Hopps get to you. She may seem cold but she does have a heart. Deep down.” Wolford chuckled.

“She just needs to get laid. She’s been single for like 12 years. I keep telling her that the comms chief Mr. Savage has a thing for her. But she just ignores me.” Beowulf cut in. 

“Dude. Really? Savage? The commander is too much for that little dude.” Stafford added.

“Will you shut up before she hears you! You want mess hall duty for a week?” Sly chimed.

“I already heard you. And I don’t need anyone.” The commander’s icy voice cut through them.

The other Mavericks shut up immediately. Skye giggled at their fluster. “You said 12 years. So she was with someone?” Skye asked curiously. 

“The one that made her the way she is now.” Beowulf whispered. 

Wolford quickly jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow. “Oww. Jerk.”

“Enough talking about me, Echo.” The commander called out. “I am right here, and if you don’t want latrine duty for a month I suggest you shut up. Now come here, Skye.” Skye did as she was told.

“You see this door? No power. Going to need to open it. You can do this, right?” She asked emotionlessly.

“Yes Ma’am you can count on me,” Skye replied enthusiastically. She reached into her tool bag and pulled out a boost box and a couple of hand tools, and after opening the door control panel and boosting the circuits to life, she grabbed her hacker pad and entered the command code to open. The heavy mag locks disengaged, the panel hummed to life and the doors parted open. 

“One minute ten seconds. Good job. You’re faster than Higgins is. I'm glad I sent him with Delgato. One down. Who knows how many more to go.” 

As the doors slid open, they were greeted with a scene so sad it dropped the commander and the rest of the team to their knees. Behind the door were corpses, seemingly frozen in time. Crew members of the Nexstar floating in various poses. Some grabbing their throats for air, others in poses looking as if they were trying to claw their way out. The commander was on both knees utterly shocked at the cruel sight.

“Well, I was wondering why we didn’t find any crew so far. I thought they got spaced but none of the damage to the hull was deep enough to break to the hallways… the life support must have been targeted... Something or someone took away their air...” Wolford had a tear in his eye. 

“I recognize most of them... I thought I’d never see these faces again...” Stafford replied.

“We have to keep moving.” the commander said as she got back to her feet.

“Commander, what if you run into W-”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Hopps yelled at Beowulf. The sudden outburst startled everyone especially the shepherd wolf. 

“Come on, Echo we need to hurry up and finish this recon,” Sly added as he began walking down the hall, mindful of the frozen corpses.

The team continued down multiple hallways, passed numerous dead, and went through many doors until the finally reached the main elevator.

“Open it, Skye.”

“Y-y-yes ma’am.” she said hurriedly as she raced to open the door. “Commander, how are we going to use an elevator? It will take forever to float up there or walk with the mag boots. The boost box is strong but not strong enough to run an entire elevator.”

“Beowulf show her.” the Commander smirked.

“Yes ma’am.” He grinned and pulled out a small handheld device no larger than a soda can. Beowulf clicked a button at the top of the device and it unfolded itself to resemble a claw with wheels.

“Did you open the top door?” Judy asked.

“Well yes I did but what does that thing d-” she was cut off by Beowulf swooping her up and jumping out into the elevator shaft. Skye let out a terrified shriek until she remembered that they were in zero G. Beowulf soon grabbed onto one of the elevator cables and proceed to hook his claw device onto it. With a click, the claw clamped down on the steel cable and the wheel began to spin, shooting them upwards at an alarming speed. 

“H-olll-yy-yyy Cr---rr-aa-ppp!!!” was all Skye could get out as they rocketed towards the bridge door. They soon reached the top of the shaft, much to Skye’s and Beowulf’s delight. The former ready to be on solid ground, the later glad to not have to hold on to a squirming fox any longer. The duo floated through the bridge door, re-linked their mag boots, and waited for the others. It didn’t take long. With Wolford being last and still laughing at the shrieking made by Skye on her trip up by the time he landed on the floor. 

“Stop laughing! It wasn’t funny that little thing is dangerous!” Skye glared at him.

“Relax kid. It’s a gravroller. It’s perfectly safe. As long as you hold on tight.” He said still smiling.

Skye just rolled her eyes and huffed. From the corner of her eye a small pulsing green light caught her eye. 

“Hey what is that? I thought the ship didn’t have any power left?” 

The rest of the Squad turned to look in her direction. In the middle of the bridge room was the main control terminal. Normally where a holo space map would be, was instead a pulsing green light.

“No way.. It can’t be.. Bell?” Wolford stepped forward to the console and pushed a few buttons. In a matter of seconds, a digital green cheetah around three feet tall appeared before them. “Hello, Spc. Wolford. It’s been a long time since your last login. Oh, I see you are now the rank of Lt., I will correct this in my database. I see Pvt. Beowulf and Pfc. Stafford have also been promoted. Wow and Sgt. Hopps? I stand corrected Commander Hopps. It is truly good to see you all again. I was beginning to worry that rescue would never come.” The A.I looked truly pleased to be reconnected with her old shipmates.

“Bell how are you still functional? It’s been 15 years. And you haven’t been upgraded or maintained.” Stafford asked.

“Before our last mission to help evacuate the colonists at new hope on Mars, the captain had my battery core upgraded.” 

“Smart he was,” Beowulf commented. “So what happened to y’all. Why’d you leave us?”

Skye looked up at the squad. Only her and Keagan Sly, the raccoon, were not a part of this ship’s crew and had no idea what was going on. Skye noticed Judy look up at Beowulf and back to Bell. Judy may have seemed like she didn’t want answers at first but now she seemed very keen on finding the answer to Beowulf’s question.

“Orders,” Bell replied.

“From who? What do you mean?” Wolford asked.

“The captain. He ordered the ship to flee.”

“Why Bell?” Judy asked with more irritation in her tone.

“The Second Earth’s Legion was approaching at an alarming rate. The captain thought it would be a good idea to try and pull them off the colonists and the ground team.”

“That idiot... We needed the backup and he just left without even saying anything! Just to pull off a few enemy ships?! The Nexstar could have handled them!” Judy spat in rage.

“According to my calculations, it could not. The enemy sent only 3 ships to stop our evacuation. Two normal frigates and a ship we had never seen before. It was 4 times the size of the Nexstar with unknown fighting capabilities. The captain deemed it a super dreadnought. Probability of survival facing the enemy was 10% overall. Fleeing and taking the larger ship with us was a 15% chance of the Nexstar making it and an 85% that the ground team and colonists would make it. ESF reinforcements were only 30 mins out. The captain believed the ground team could hold out for that long against the enemy frigate’s ground troops. He did it to save the lives of the colonist and you, commander.”

“What...?” Judy looked at Bell.

“I have a message for you Commander. It was labeled for you to be able to access only. Unless confirmation of your death was presented. I’m guessing the captain knew you would eventually find us.”

“Play it,” was all Judy could say.

Explosions and quakes shake the vid screen and a handsome young red fox is trying to hold it steady. Mammals are running around behind him fighting fires or helping treat wounds of others. “Bell is this thing on?”

“Yes, captain. Please be brief. At our current rate, we won’t be able to sustain life support for much longer. I estimate 20 minutes. You need to make your way down to the cryo chambers for safety, Captain.”

“Got it. Let me finish this. Assist the others to the cryo chambers in the meantime.”

“Ok, captain.”

“Judy... I know you are probably furious with me. And I don’t blame you for harboring hate. Just know I had no time to inform everyone of my plan… on the bright side, at least it worked. The dreadnaught followed us. It has been for a hot minute. We.. we can’t outrun it, but we can try to hide in the asteroid belt. If we make it that far. I hope you find this one day. Just know I did what I did to protect you and everyone that I could. The ESF should’ve arrived to help you fight off the legion’s frigates. I know you can hold out… Please hold out... You have Bogo and so many other amazing soldiers to fight with you. I left 300 of you down there to defend 8,000 colonists. I only regret not being able to send the rest of the crew down there with you and luring this monster away by myself. Oh well, I did what I could and I figured that many lives were worth more than just 400 of us and Bell. Ha... Please live, Judy.. I. I.. Lo..”

“Captain, now or you won’t make it!” Bell was heard yelling at him.

“Right. Let’s go everyone, this is going to get rough!” he then picked up a possum soldier and with the rest of the bridge crew went down the elevator. The vid cut off.

Judy just stood there, tears in her eyes. She wept softly. Even Bell looked sad. Well sad for an A.I. At first, Skye was at a loss for words, until something hit her. “Wait. Bell you said Cryo chambers?”

“Kid, Cryo chambers only work if there is power. This ship has been dead for a while. Plus even if they did have power their cores are only rated to last for 10 years.” Wolford said as he laid a paw on Judy’s shoulder.

“Incorrect Lt.” Bell chimed in. 

“WHAT?!?!” Everyone said at the same time.

“Bell, explain now!” Wolford said sternly.

“Another upgrade the captain had installed before going to New Hope was a smaller separate reactor core for powering this main terminal here and the cryo chambers. The captain concluded that if such an attack left the Nexstar stranded with no power from the main core, that a secondary harder to reach core could at least keep the crew alive in an emergency. It is true that cryo pods have a lifespan of an ESTIMATED 10 years without proper maintenance, however, it has not been fully tested.”

“Some of the crew are still alive!?” Stafford barked.

“We saw a lot of bodies on the way up here. How many made it?” Sly asked.

“The dreadnaught damaged our hull and life support systems to a high extent. However, the hull was never penetrated fully, so no crew have been spaced. They are all still on board. They all could not make it to the cryo chamber in time. Out of 400, only 135 made it to cryo.”

“Holy shit we have got to get them!! Beowulf shouted.

“WAIT. One last thing. The captain may have upgraded the system, but I do regret to inform you that over the span of the years I have had to shut down several pods to conserve power. An action that I do… Regret.” Bell said with a saddened tone.

“How many Bell..?” Wolford asked.

“Out of the 135 original survivors, only 50 remain. The captain is one of the 50-”

Before she could finish her sentence Judy had already hopped up and jumped down the elevator shaft and zoomed down to the bottom levels. Skye was amazed at her speed. The next thing she knew she was being grabbed by Wolford.

“Come on I might need you down there. Stafford, you and Sly try and reach out to Echo 2 and Bogo and tell them what the hell is going on. We need birds over here and a rescue team. And don’t forget to bring Bell. Beowulf, come with me.” And just like that Skye was going back down the elevator. “Oh no no no…”

When they reached the bottom, they noticed all the elevators were resting on this floor. Skye immediately hugged the top of one. “Well, at least we know where the elevators are. I was worried about smacking into one on our climb up and back down,” Skye said. The group jumped through the already open hatch and into the elevator cart.

“Looks like she didn’t need us to open it up. She must be VERY determined right now. We need to catch up,” Wolford added. As soon as they were all inside the cart they noticed the floor door had been ripped open by what looked like two paws and a lot of force. 

“Did she do... That...?” Skye was now very afraid of getting on the commander’s bad side.

Wolford and Beowulf both nodded and began to look around for signs of the commander. “That rabbit is fast. The damn Maverick program didn’t help either. Which way, Lt.?”

Wolford sniffed the air and turned to his right. “This way.”

The group passed down a few hallways with similar ripped open doors. After about the fifth door, they noticed the air vent lid above the next door had been busted open.

“Well, she ran out of steam busting these doors. Skye your up. There shouldn’t be but one or two more until we reach the cryo chamber.”

“Roger, Wolford Sir.” Skye went to work hacking the last three doors with ease. When the final door slid open an icy blast hit them almost instantly. 

“Holy crap it’s cold in here... I can feel it through my suit...” Beowulf mumbled.

“Well, it is a cryo-chamber, doofus,” Wolford replied.

The chamber was massive, with pods going all up the walls. Like an earth sports stadium, tall stairs stretched all the way to even the furthest ones up. Each pod differed in size, but shared the same design and pulsing blue fog coming from under each one. Well, each one that was on. More than half of the pods were dark. There were even dead mammals at a few that hadn’t been fast enough to open one and climb inside. Skye also knew that many had crew members in them but had been cut off.

If Skye wasn’t hurting enough, the sight of her commander frantically jumping from pod to pod looking for the Captain was unbearable.

“Judy calm down please. Think. We can access the panel to find him. Remember Bell said that there was still a little power down here. Beowulf, Skye, go find out which Pod the captain is in.” Wolford appeared calm and collected, but deep in his eyes you could see the worry he had for his commander. She hadn’t even heard him.

Beowulf grabbed on to the panel and began furiously typing. Skye couldn’t see much. “Ok Skye, pod T-8. Let’s go.” Before she could even react he was up and looking as well. “Wolford, Hopps it’s T-8!” he shouted. As Skye watched, all three mammals frantically looked for the Pod. If the pods weren’t completely covered in dust, the nameplates would’ve been easier to read and things might have gone faster.

While waiting, Skye leaned back onto a pod behind her and just watched. They were so much faster than she was. Would her help really help? She looked down at her paw as it began to get cold and she noticed the pod she was leaning on was one of the active ones. Skye leaned down and dusted off the nameplate. 

Cpt. Nicholas P. Wilde. Cryopod Number T-8.

There it was, right beside the panel the whole time. “HEY! I THINK I FOUND IT!” Skye yelled. In a flash, Judy was there, followed by the others. Judy wiped away the dust layer on the glass to reveal the same handsome young red fox from the vid. He looked as though he hadn’t aged a day. Skye was feeling a bit flustered. The captain sure was attractive. From his chiseled muzzle, to his broad shoulders and muscular arms, he was a well built specimen of his species. Wait… what am I thinking... he’s probably like almost 40 or something, Skye thought to herself.

“Oh Nick… You stupid fox..” Judy began to weep softly again. “Contact Stafford and Sly… *sniff* They have the long-range radio.. *sniff* I want to know if the rescue team is here already… We have to get them out and thawed.” Judy said without taking her eyes off the form of the sleeping fox behind the glass.

“It would be wise to let the med bay do that. They have been frozen for fifteen years, we don’t know the effects that could have on the body. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Wolford said reassuringly to Judy.

“Hey Commander. Sly says the rescue team is already on their way down the elevator shaft now.” Beowulf reported.

Skye didn’t know how to feel. All of this was not what she expected on her first field mission. If the rush was like this every time, then she had to get herself assigned to missions more often, and she couldn’t wait to meet this Captain Wilde.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Jasper Chase Beowulf  
Position: Maverick Elite Number M-056, BC Raptor Echo Squad Member  
Rank: Ssgt  
Nicknames: Jasp, Beo, JB  
Primary specialty: Explosives, Hand to hand combat, Rifles, Jokes  
Species: German shepherd/Timber Wolf  
Likes: Poker, Cooking, Speeder racing, Reading(won't admit it), Sleeping  
Dislikes: Clowns, Spiders, The legion, Higgins(Sometimes), Anything strawberry flavor  
Status: Active  
Home world: Earth, North Animerica USA, Houston Texas


	4. Frozen in time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes come face to face with an old friend. Will this reunion be happy or devastating?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all its been a minute hasnt it? I just Want to say this story wouldn't be nearly as clean without the help of Usernamesweretaken. Seriously appreciate the editor/beta reader insight you have provided. I still have a lot of work to do to provide the best content I can. Stay tuned!

Year: 2131

Time: 10:00

Location: Sol system asteroid belt quadrant F4

Primary OBJ: Rescue surviving Nexstar crew

Weather: N/A

Hazards: Asteroids and other debris

Commanding officer: Cpt. Alvin Bogo

Ship: BC class V Raptor

“How long has she been in there?”

“About two hours sir.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised she’d react like this.”

“Why do you say that sir?”

“Doctor Quinn, do you not know who this crew was? What that ship meant to the commander? To me?”

“Sir, I'm not as old as you. I’ve only heard stories and rumors of a ship by that name, famous for its service in the beginning of this war, and then going missing in action. As far as what kind of connection it has with some of our crew, I’m guessing family and friends may have been serving on it?.”

“Sharp as always doctor, but there is a little more to it. When the invasion began, the Nexstar was among the first non-military ships converted for battle. Demand for ships of war was so high, production couldn't keep up. It may only be an old class 3 frigate, and it may be a little outdated now, but for it’s time it was way more advanced than most of the Battle cruisers or Battleships from that time. On top of that, that ship was mine as well as a few of this crew's previous duty station. The commander was... well, head over heels for the captain and I was his 2nd. I was the Nexstar’s commander, and Hopps was a brand new squad leader back then, just a nervous sergeant fresh out of training. We have much history and many memories involving her, many good times and of course many bad times as well..” Bogo trailed off deep in his own memories.

“I see. I had no idea sir. So after grieving for all these years.. This must be a distressing wave of mixed emotions.”

“That it is Doctor Quinn. That it is.” Bogo sighed heavily as he and the snow leopard doctor watched Judy Hopps sit with her knees to her chest in front of the emergency ward doors. Judy had been sitting in the waiting room since the cryo pods had been brought aboard. She had wasted no time at all personally bringing her lost captain directly to the medical wing. Only to be told she had to wait out in the lobby, which just added to her frustration and worries. The recovery mission didn’t take long with so few active pods remaining, and she had let Wolford handle the operation for retrieving the rest of the dead crew. All that mattered to her now was making sure the thaw was successful.

“Doctor how much longer?” Bogo asked. 

“Well sir, we’ve already thawed out half the crew. We are making sure they’re not having any dangerous side effects. So far, only a few have lost some fingers or toes, even an eyeball or ear, due to frostbite.” Quinn replied.

“No, how much longer until you get to Wilde?”

“Oh, let me check.” Quinn quickly walked through the ER doors.

Bogo sat down in the waiting chair across from Judy. For once the caped buffalo did not know what to say to the Commander. He felt he would botch his words or say something wrong and make things worse if he tried to comfort her. He didn't even know how to feel at the moment. It ate him up inside to see his long-time friend looking as pitiful as she did now, he had thought after this long of being cold and calculated, that the doe had lost all of her former emotions. Bogo hadn’t seen her cry since the day the search parties gave up looking for the Nexstar, but here she was, grey fur matted with dry tear lines and red exhausted eyes. The captain leaned back in his chair and waited, he wondered himself how he would react upon seeing their old friend.

After what felt like an eternity Quinn popped her head through one of the swinging doors and motioned for Bogo. 

“Well?” he snorted.

“Sir he’s done. He should be awake any minute. However, there is a slight issue..” Quinn motioned for Bogo to grab Judy. “Come.”

“Hopps we can go back there. He should be awake in a minute, but the doc says something has happe-.” Before Bogo could finish his sentence Judy was already through the door. Bogo snorted irritably and turned to follow.

Quinn led the duo down a hallway full of busy doctors and nurses rushing back and forth between rooms. Many of the Nexstar crew were being helped as they tried to walk around, a few of them hugging the doctors or each other happy to be alive. Some of them even turned in recognition with big smiles on their faces to see Bogo and Judy walking past them, many offering up salutes or waves. After many turns and twists down corridors and halls, they came to a large metal door labeled “critical”. Next to the large door was an equally large window to view the inside of the room. 

“Why is he in critical!?” Judy asked Quinn with a more panicked tone.

“Well, you’ll see Commander.” before Judy could press further, Quinn had ventured inside the room. Judy began to tap her foot with irritation. 

“Hopps please quit. Come look.” Bogo was standing by the window. Judy peeked through and now could see the handsome todd resting in his bed. He was covered up to his neck with hospital blankets, and was still passed out. Steady shallow breaths were the only indication he was alive. Quinn was talking to the other doctors and nurses, gesturing towards the window and back to the door. Soon after her persuasive talk, the rest of the staff had left the room, leaving Quinn alone waving them to come in. 

As soon as they walked in, Nick began to stir. “Where.. where am I..? The hospital light blinded him as he tried to see who had just entered. “Why can’t I move?” Nick looked down and saw he was covered up completely. “Am I just a head?”

“NICK!!” A grey flash of fur had launched itself from the floor and into the chest of the fox. Tears of joy and grief had overtaken Judy, and she simply couldn't hold it any longer. “I.. I can’t believe it.. *hic* You’re alive.. *hic* You stupid.. *hic* fox..”

“Commander you should’n-”

“Quinn. Please, she needs this.” Bogo held up a hoof to silence her.

“Carrots!? Ow, I’m definitely not just a head. How did you find me!? I wasn’t expecting to be rescued.. Judy i’m so sorry for what happ-”

“SHUT UP! Don’t start please, just please Nick. Let me savor this. I thought you were dead, that you abandoned me. I thought you were a selfish jerk for so long.. I got your message so you don’t need to talk.” Her grip tightened as she hugged him harder.

Nick was still in shock. The last thing he remembered was thinking of Judy as he slowly drifted to sleep, and here she was as soon as he woke back up. He couldn't hug her back, but he could be quiet and let her have her moment. With the amount of emotions flowing from Judy, Nick began to worry about what all he had missed.  
After an eternity of hugs and sobs, Judy finally let go. She sat up on the bed face caked with dry tears again and just stared into Nick’s eyes. He hadn’t aged at all. He was still the same handsome tod that she remembered. 

“Okay doctor, why can’t I feel anything? This doesn’t feel right for a cryo thaw. I should be able to move. Wait.. how long was I out?” 

“Well Mr. Wilde, you're not paralyzed if that’s what you fear. That’s just one of the effects of over exposure to cryo chambers. To my knowledge, fifteen years is a little over the expiration date on an older model cryo pod. You should regain feelings in your lower body and right arm real soon.”

“Oh that’s good to hear Doc, I’m starving. Wait. Did you say fifteen years!?”

“She sure did slick, that means i’m kinda your elder now.” Judy replied with a mischievous grin. 

Nick looked up at Bogo and Judy and noticed they did indeed look different. “Wow fifteen years huh..? It’s a miracle I'm alive. Buffalo butt, you look really old, well older than you already were. Judy, you sure have grown up, still as beautiful as ever. How old are you guys anyway? My memory is still a little hazy.” he said with a wink in Judy's direction.

“I’m 37 now Nick and Captain Bogo is 63.” Judy said with a giggle and playful poke at Bogos ribs.

“I may be older but I can still kick your sorry ass in any training sim we’ve got.” Bogo huffed.

“We shall see buffalo bu- or should I say Captain.” Nick said with a low chuckle, and to Bogo's surprise. “I would be what? 47? But I'm still 32. I guess it was a gift and a curse.” he said with a heavy sigh and noticeable distaste.

“How is that a curse Nick?” Judy asked.

“I didn’t get to be here for you. I was sidelined in the middle of a war.. Speaking of, is the war over? Did my crew make it? And hold on doc, did you say gain feeling in my right arm? What about my left?” Nick began to become noticeably worried as hundreds of questions and concerns began to rush his mind all at once.

“You’re quick Mr. Wilde. Yes I did say right arm..” Doctor Quinn removed the bed sheet that had been covering Nick's entire body to reveal nothing where his left arm should have been. Judy covered her mouth in shock and Bogo looked down. “Mr Wilde, your arm suffered major frostbite damage, and wasn’t able to be saved. However, we should be able to have a cybernetic replacement made for you when we return to command, we don’t have the tools or parts to do that here.” Doctor Quinn said as she looked away with a hardened face. She always hated giving bad news to patients. “Oh, Nick..” Judy reached out to him, only to have him lean away, with his face now donning a grimmer mask.

“My crew and war status. I need some answers, never mind my arm.” Nick said without a tone of emotion in his voice. Judy had only seen Nick in this serious form a few times before.

“Wilde. Bell gave us a report. Only fifty of the ship’s pods were able to be kept active. You were lucky. Your smart thinking along with those last minute renovations you made to the Nexstar was a brilliant move, none of them would have made it if it wasn’t for you.” Bogo chimed in.

“Fifty huh? That wasn’t even a quarter of them.. I failed them. What about the war?” Nick asked with deep sadness hidden behind his cold, calm, and collective eyes. Only a few mammals who really knew Nick could see behind his masks, and into his true self. Judy could tell he was hurting, and that hurt her, so she knew what she was about to tell him would not feel good for either of them.

“Nick.. we.. we lost. Earth is almost completely under Legion occupation. The last transmission we received was months ago but we know the legion still hasn’t fully taken over and they are putting most of their efforts into squashing the rebels. I know it sounds bad saying this but it’s been good for us, they haven’t sent anyone to find the fleet or ESF command, and that gives us time to rebuild. However, that just means we can’t support the resistance back on earth right now. We also lost Mars and the Moon base, as well as the Blythe colony we evacuated from Callisto all those years ago. All we have left is Titan and the various outposts and space stations scattered around Saturn's moons.” Judy tried to look Nick in the eyes and figure out what he was thinking, but he refused to meet her gaze. After a few minutes of silence Nick spoke.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m here now. What’s our next move?” Nick asked Bogo. A complete 360 from his previous mood, Nick now dawned a smile.

“I’m waiting for a reply from our Rear Admiral about our situation. Of course it would be easier to just ask the ESF command directly but you know how it is, have to go up the chain of command.” After Bogo finished his sentence Nick lifted his right arm and pushed himself upright. He then moved his legs over to the side of the bed and hopped off, much to the surprise of everyone.

“Mr. Wilde please sit back down!” Quinn yelled out.

“Relax Spots. I’m fine, I can feel my legs and arm now and I don’t want to be cooped up in that bed. I’d like to see the rest of my crew.” Nick began to stretch, his lean muscles popping through the blue cryo jumpsuit he was wearing. “ I want some food.”

A quiet sneeze followed by a startled “Eeeep,” came from the corner of the room. 

“What was that?” Nick asked as he tore off his cyro top off to replace it with a plain black muscle shirt that had been provided for him. Judy was too distracted by the red foxes lean muscles and many scars covering his upper torso, to notice the noise. Bogo however, did hear it, and had a feeling what caused it. 

“Skye, are you in the broom cabinet?” Getting no reply Bogo walked over to the large metal cabinet in the furthest corner of the room. Judy, who had been awoken from her trance by the word Skye, beat the Captain to the cabinet and whipped it open. Skye had been leaning against the door of the medical cabinet peering out from the slits in the metal and when said door suddenly flew open by a furious bunny, she came tumbling out and landed face first on the cold hard floor. She was wearing doctors scrubs and a badge that was obviously not hers.

“Skye? How? What are you doing here?!” Judy spat at the young arctic fox. The vixen looked terrified at being caught, especially with the commander herself barking at her.

“Easy Hopps. I should have expected this. Skye is as curious as she is restless. She can’t sit still for anything.” Bogo reassured the Commander. “Now Skye why are you here and where did you get that badge?” Bogo turned to the vixen to get some answers with Judy glaring daggers beside him.

“Sorry sir.. I was just curious about the cyro-crew's condition.. I grabbed Doctor Kens I.D, he’s been out with a stomach bug for this week.” As Skye explained herself she kept throwing glances at Nick. The tod, finding humor in this situation, began to walk over. Not expecting this, Skye was quick to start feeling flustered and swiftly turned a little red.

“Ensign, you do know that you can get in serious trouble for your little stunts right?” Judy, who had noticed the small body language the vixen was expressing, grew even angrier and now wanted to scare her. Judy knew what jealousy felt like, but hadn’t felt the need to be jealous in a very long time. But at that moment she felt the vixen was a threat.

Before she could rip into the already embarrassed Skye, a familiar voice cut in, “Relax Carrots. You must be Skye right?”

“Ye-yes sir..” Skye answered with her head down. Nick put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch a little.

“You look kinda familiar. I just can’t quite put my finger on it. Oh well, you must be pretty talented and smart to be here on a ship like this so young. You kinda remind me of myself when I was much younger. Hard headed, mischievous, but at the same time good-hearted and clever. Am I right?” Skye nodded shyly. Nick’s natural charm was turned all the way up and Bogo could’ve swore he could see literal steam coming off of her head.

“I didn’t mean any harm Mr. WIlde.” She said in a near whisper.

“I don’t think you did, but take it from me, if you stay out of trouble life treats you much better, and that rabbit over there won’t kill you hahaha.” Nick gave her a wink then stood up and turned to Bogo. “Captain, I’m starved. She didn’t cause any harm, so let’s say we let it slide and all go get some food.” Nick shot up his famous finger gun wink and sly grin routine to the cape buffalo. 

Sighing, Bogo began walking to the door, “Alright Skye I won’t make this a big dea-” 

“Sir I promise I’ll stop getting into trouble! I won’t go into places i'm not supposed to anymore.. I went too far.” Skye cut him off, much to everyone’s surprise. 

Judy wanted to say something, but after shaking off her initial jealousy and clearing her thoughts, she realized Nick was right. They were similar. He had been a clever little kid and an even smarter teen. Smart enough to gain his master pilots license at 18, complete his officer training at 22, and was the youngest mammal to become a Captain of their own ship at the age of 28. When Judy had joined the Nexstar Nick was only a year into his command and Judy had really admired him for achieving so much at his age, and thought of him as a role model. She never imagined a mammal like him would ever take notice of someone like her, but he did.

However, before all his accomplishments back when he was still in training, Nick had always enjoyed going where he wasn’t allowed or pulling small pranks. His bad behavior almost got him kicked from the ESF, so Judy could understand why he didn’t want Skye to get written up, she might be the next legend one day. “Don’t worry about it Ensign Skye. Let’s just get some food.” Judy helped her up from the floor and gave her a pat on the back. Skye and Nick walked out first leaving Bogo and Judy in the room. As the pair began to follow Bogo chuckled and whispered to Judy, “I think she has a crush.” 

“Sir I will politely tell you to can it.” Judy said with a laugh.

“Hopps you won’t have to worry about her.”

“Why do you say that sir? She’s a young attractive vixen. I’m just an old bunny.. It’s been years I would understand if he didn’t want me..” Judy said sadness in her eyes as she and Bogo watched the two foxes ahead of them converse and laugh. “Looks like they are already clicking..”

Bogo looked around guiltily for a moment until he replied to Judy. “Nah Hopps, you know Wilde is just friendly to everyone he meets, and we both know he’s crazy about you. I saw his last transmission log, you don’t have to worry about her.”

Judy eyed Bogo intensely, she felt like he was hiding something, but she decided to let it go for now. She was just thrilled her fox was back in her life, and hell maybe Bogo was right.

“Lt. Wolford may I speak with you? I can’t find the commander or captain at all.” A tall muscular lion asked as he approached Wolford, who was tagging the bodies of the Nexstar’s crew with the rest of the salvage team. Wolford looked up from his data pad to see who was speaking to him.

“Me? Well of course sir. What can I help you with Lieutenant Commander?” Wolford asked as half jokingly. 

“Oh, cut it out Johnny. Just call me Delgato.” The lion replied.

“Yeah okay Frank. What do you need?” Wolford replied sarcastically.

“It’s Del- Ah screw it. You're always messing with me.” 

“Well, you make it easy. On a serious note, what did you need me for? I’m a little busy sir.” Wolford asked impatiently. 

“Right, I’ve gotten word from comms. Command sent us a message. It’s urgent and I can’t find the Captain, or the Commander. They both aren’t answering their communicators. Do you know where they are?”

“Yeah, Hopps left her communicator in her quarters. The Captain probably did the same. I know she went to the medical wing to monitor the survivors. That’s probably where they both are. What’s so urgent?” Wolford asked putting his data pad down to give the lion his full attention.

Delgato looked at his feet, then to the mammals who were carrying bodies and zipping them up in bags. Delgato had a nervous look in his eyes and fidgety mannerisms. The big guy couldn’t keep still.

“They are sending in tugs to haul the Nexstar to the salvage yard, they want to repair and upgrade it.”

“That’s a little unexpected but not urgent.” Wolford cut in.

“I wasn’t done. We are to drop off the dead and the survivors we found with the tugs when they arrive so they can be processed back on Titan, and then after we are to immediately assist the Frigate The Goblin. The Goblin was last known to have been searching around Jupiter's moons for any salvage. Command lost contact roughly an hour or so ago, and since we are the furthest out of patrolled space, we are also the closest to them. They fear they've been attacked.”

“Legion? Shit, they haven't been out that far in years. Come on we’ve got to inform them. How long until the tugs arrive?” Wolford asked.

“Fifteen minutes minimum.”

“Come on Delagato,” Wolford said as he handed his data pad to a porcupine in an orange flight suit, “Finish this for me I have to take care of something.” The porcupine gave a nod of acknowledgment. 

The Wolf and the Lion swiftly made their way to the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name: Jasper Chase Beowulf  
Position: Maverick Elite Number M-056, BC Raptor Echo Squad Member  
Rank: Ssgt  
Nicknames: Jasp, Beo, JB  
Primary specialty: Explosives, Hand to hand combat, Rifles, Jokes  
Species: German shepherd/Timber Wolf  
Likes: Poker, Cooking, Speeder racing, Reading(won't admit it), Sleeping  
Dislikes: Clowns, Spiders, The legion, Higgins(Sometimes), Anything strawberry flavor  
Status: Active  
Home world: Earth, North Animerica USA, Houston Texas


End file.
